Contents

The club was founded as Rixdorfer TuFC Tasmania1900 on 2 June 1900. It is believed the founders of the club were about to migrate to Australia at the end of the 19th century, so they named their club after their shared desired destination Tasmania.[1]

In 1965, Berlin's only Bundesliga side, Hertha BSC, had its license revoked and was relegated for breaking the league's player salary rules. The German Football Association wanted to keep a club in the city of Berlin for political reasons and this led to one of the strangest episodes in the Bundesliga's history.

Both Karlsruher SC and FC Schalke 04 tried to avoid being demoted by laying claim to Hertha's place. It was decided to suspend relegation for one season and increase the number of teams in the league from 16 to 18 to accommodate the two teams which would normally be promoted from the Regionalligen (the Regional Leagues being the leagues below the Bundesliga at the time). Cold War politics led to a space being held for a team from the former capital city to replace Hertha.

The winner of Regionalliga Berlin, Tennis Borussia Berlin, had failed to advance to the Bundesliga through the regular promotion round that saw Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach move up. After the Regionalliga second-place finisher, Spandauer SV, refused an offer of promotion, the way was clear for third-place club Tasmania 1900 to take up the opportunity to represent Berlin in the Bundesliga — just two weeks before the start of the 1965–66 season.

A top performer in the relatively weak Regionalliga Berlin, Tasmania 1900 would find themselves seriously overmatched in the Bundesliga. Despite a season-opening 2–0 win over Karlsruher SC at the Olympiastadion, they would go on to become the worst team in league history — in a 34-game season they won only twice. They scored only 15 goals while conceding 108 and finished the season in last place earning just 8 of a possible 68 points. The only team not to beat Tasmania was 1. FC Kaiserslautern which managed only two draws (0–0 and 1–1) against them. The 0–0 result at Betzenberg was the only point earned by Tasmania away from their home stadium.

Tasmania were relegated at the end of the season and returned to the Regionalliga Berlin. Although the team made it to the promotion round twice between 1966 and 1973, they never managed a return to the Bundesliga. In 1973, the Neukölln sports association declared bankruptcy.

A successor team, SC Tasmania 73 Neukölln was created, becoming SV Tasmania-Gropiusstadt 1973 in 2000. While the new club's first team had to restart in the lowest division in 1973 and quickly rose through the ranks again, the club's youth teams were permitted to remain in the leagues they played in under the old name. Since 2011, the club has been known as SV Tasmania Berlin.

1.
SV Tasmania Berlin
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SV Tasmania Berlin is a German football club based in Berlin-Neukölln, Germany, currently playing in the Berlin-Liga. Later that year, the former Bundesliga club Tasmania 1900 was declared bankrupt and was disbanded, many club officials and players followed suit to support the new team in Neukölln. Tasmania 73 played the 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons in the fourth tier NOFV-Oberliga Nord. In December 2000, the club was renamed SV Tasmania-Gropiusstadt 1973, 2007–08 saw Tasmania-Gropiusstadt play in the Berlin-Liga. In 2011, the club was renamed SV Tasmania Berlin, after finishing first in the 2011–12 Landesliga season the club was promoted once again to the Berlin-Liga. Tasmanias home matches are played at the 3, 000-capacity Werner-Seelenbinder-Sportpark in Berlin-Neukölln, as of 7 March 2017 Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality, the clubs honours, Verbandsliga Berlin Champions,1997 Berliner Landespokal Runners-up,2014,2015 SV Tasmania Berlin

2.
Football in Germany
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Football is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association is the national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 26,000 football clubs. There is a system, with the Bundesliga and 2. The winner of the Bundesliga is crowned the German football champion, additionally, there are national cup competitions, most notably the DFB-Pokal and DFL-Supercup. The Germany national football team has won four FIFA World Cups and it also holds a record three UEFA European Championships. The Germany womens national team has won two FIFA Womens World Cups and a record eight UEFA European Womens Championships. Germany is the nation that has won both the mens and womens World Cup. In addition, Germany is the nation to have won the applicable regional/continental championship for both the mens and womens team. No team has more combined mens and womens World Cup championships, the first football match arguably took place in Braunschweig in 1874. Two schoolteachers, August Hermann and Konrad Koch, initiated the first match after Hermann had obtained a round football from England, in 1875, Koch published the first German version of the rules of football, although Kochs version of the game still closely resembled Rugby football. The Dresden English Football Club is considered the first modern football club in Germany and it was founded in 1874 by Englishmen living and working around Dresden. In the following 20 years the game achieved a growing popularity, Football clubs were founded in Berlin, Hamburg and Karlsruhe. On 28 January 1900, representatives from 86 football clubs from German-speaking areas in and outside the German Empire met in the restaurant Mariengarten in Leipzig, the founding meeting was led by E. J. Kirmse, chairman of the Leipziger Fussball Verband. Ferdinand Hueppe, representing the DFC Prag, was elected first president of the DFB, the first championship beyond municipal areas was held in 1898 from the Verband Sueddeutscher Fussball-Vereine, later affiliated with the DFB. The German national football team represents Germany in international football competitions since 1908 and it is controlled by the German Football Association DFB, the governing body of football in Germany. After the war, Germany was occupied in three states, the DFB and its team continued in what was called West Germany, while the Saarland and East Germany fielded separate teams for some years. The FIFA World Cup 1974 was staged in West Germany, meeting on 22 June 1974 in a politically charged match in Hamburg, East Germany beat West Germany 1–0, on a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser. Both German teams advanced to the second round anyway, the GDR team was eliminated there, while the DFB team eventually went on to win the tournament

3.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia

4.
Tasmania
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Tasmania is an island state of the Commonwealth of Australia. It is located 240 km to the south of the Australian mainland, the state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands. The state has a population of around 519,100, just over forty percent of which resides in the Greater Hobart precinct, Tasmanias area is 68,401 km2, of which the main island covers 64,519 km2. Though an island state, due to an error the state shares a land border with Victoria at its northernmost terrestrial point, Boundary Islet. The Bishop and Clerk Islets, about 37 km south of Macquarie Island, are the southernmost terrestrial point of the state of Tasmania, the island is believed to have been occupied by Aboriginals for 40,000 years before British colonisation. It is thought Tasmanian Aboriginals were separated from the mainland Aboriginal groups about 10,000 years ago when the sea rose to form Bass Strait. The conflict, which peaked between 1825 and 1831 and led to more than three years of law, cost the lives of almost 1100 Aboriginals and settlers. The near-destruction of Tasmanias Aboriginal population has been described by historians as an act of genocide by the British. The island was part of the Colony of New South Wales. In 1854 the present Constitution of Tasmania was passed and the year the state received permission to change its name to Tasmania. In 1901 it became a state through the process of the Federation of Australia, the state is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. Tasman named the island Anthony van Diemens Land after his sponsor Anthony van Diemen, the name was later shortened to Van Diemens Land by the British. It was officially renamed Tasmania in honour of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856, Tasmania was sometimes referred to as Dervon, as mentioned in the Jerilderie Letter written by the notorious Australian bushranger Ned Kelly in 1879. The colloquial expression for the state is Tassie, Tasmania is also colloquially shortened to Tas, especially when used in business names and website addresses. TAS is also the Australia Post abbreviation for the state, the reconstructed Palawa kani language name for Tasmania is Lutriwita. The island was adjoined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the last glacial period about 10,000 years ago, much of the island is composed of Jurassic dolerite intrusions through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar joints. Tasmania has the worlds largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains, the central plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerite. Mount Wellington above Hobart is an example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes

5.
Bundesliga
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The Bundesliga, is a professional association football league in Germany and the football league with the highest average stadium attendance worldwide. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germanys primary football competition, the Bundesliga is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Seasons run from August to May, most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played on weekdays. All of the Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB-Pokal, the winner of the Bundesliga qualifies for the DFL-Supercup. A total of 54 clubs have competed in the Bundesliga since its founding, FC Bayern Munich has won the Bundesliga the most, winning the title 25 times. However, the Bundesliga has seen other champions with Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Bundesliga is broadcast on television in over 200 countries. The Bundesliga was founded in 1962 in Dortmund and the first season started in 1963, the structure and organisation of the Bundesliga along with Germanys other football leagues have undergone frequent changes right up to the present day. The Bundesliga was founded by the Deutscher Fußball-Bund, but is now operated by the Deutsche Fußball Liga, the Bundesliga is composed of two divisions, the 1. Bundesliga, and, below that, the 2, Bundesliga, which has been the second tier of German football since 1974. Below the level of the 3, Liga, leagues are generally subdivided on a regional basis. For example, the Regionalligen are currently made up of Nord, Nordost, Süd, below this are thirteen parallel divisions, most of which are called Oberligen which represent federal states or large urban and geographical areas. The levels below the Oberligen differ between the local areas, the league structure has changed frequently and typically reflects the degree of participation in the sport in various parts of the country. In the early 1990s, changes were driven by the reunification of Germany, every team in the two Bundesligen must have a licence to play in the league, or else they are relegated into the regional leagues. To obtain a licence, teams must be healthy and meet certain standards of conduct as organisations. As in other leagues, there are significant benefits to being in the top division. Bundesliga teams draw significantly greater levels of fan support, average attendance in the first league is 42,673 per game — more than twice the average of the 2. Greater exposure through television and higher attendance levels helps 1, Bundesliga teams attract the most lucrative sponsorships. Bundesliga teams develop substantial financial muscle through the combination of television and gate revenues, sponsorships and this allows them to attract and retain skilled players from domestic and international sources and to construct first-class stadium facilities

6.
Hertha BSC
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Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V. commonly known as Hertha BSC, Hertha Berlin or simply Hertha, is a German association football club based in the Charlottenburg locality of Berlin. Hertha BSC play in the Bundesliga, the division of German football. Bundesliga table at the end of the 2012–13 season, Hertha BSC was founded in 1892, and was a founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900. The team won the German championship in 1930 and 1931, since 1963, Herthas stadium has been the Olympiastadion. The club is known as Die Alte Dame in German, which translates to The Old Lady, in 2002, the sports activities of the professional, amateur, and under-19 teams were separated into Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. The name Hertha is a variation on Nerthus referring to fertility goddess from Germanic mythology, Hertha performed consistently well on the field, including a win in the first Berlin championship final in 1905. In May 1910, Hertha won a match against Southend United. However, their success was not matched financially and in 1920 the staunchly working-class Hertha merged with the well-heeled club Berliner Sport-Club to form Hertha Berliner Sport-Club. The new team continued to enjoy success in the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg. Notwithstanding, Hertha emerged as the Germanys second most successful team during the inter-war years, German football was re-organized under the Third Reich in 1933 into 16 top-flight divisions, which saw Hertha playing in the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg. The club continued to enjoy success within their division, regularly finishing in the half of the table. It faded from prominence, however, unable to advance out of the rounds of the national championship rounds. Politically, the club was overhauled under Hitler, with Hans Pfeifer, after World War II, occupying Allied authorities banned most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs. Hertha was re-formed late in 1945 as SG Gesundbrunnen and resumed play in the Oberliga Berlin – Gruppe C, by the end of 1949, it had re-claimed their identity as Hertha BSC and earned a return to the top-flight. Tensions between the western Allies and the Soviets occupying various sectors of the city, and the developing Cold War, led to chaotic conditions for football in the capital. Hertha was banned from playing against East German teams in the 1949–50 season after taking on several players, a number of sides from the eastern half of the city were forced from the Oberliga Berlin to the newly established DDR-Liga beginning with the 1950–51 season. Through the 1950s, a rivalry developed with Tennis Borussia Berlin. A proposal for a merger between the two clubs in 1958 was resoundingly rejected, with three of the 266 members voting in favour

7.
Relegated
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In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between two divisions based on their performance for the completed season. In some leagues, playoffs or qualifying rounds are used to determine rankings. This process can continue through several levels of divisions, with teams being exchanged between levels 1 and 2, levels 2 and 3, levels 3 and 4, the number of teams exchanged between the divisions is almost always identical. Such variations will almost inevitably cause an effect through the lower divisions. Even in the absence of such circumstances, the pyramid-like nature of most European football league systems can still create knock-on effects at the regional level. The system is said to be the characteristic of the European form of professional sports league organization. Promotion and relegation have the effect of allowing the maintenance of a hierarchy of leagues and divisions and they also maintain the importance of games played by many low-ranked teams near the end of the season, which may be at risk of relegation. In contrast, a low-ranked US or Canadian teams final games serve little purpose, although not intrinsic to the system, problems can occur due to the differing monetary payouts and revenue-generating potential that different divisions provide to their clubs. For example, financial hardship has sometimes occurred in leagues where clubs do not reduce their wage bill once relegated, some leagues offer parachute payments to its relegated teams for the following year. The payouts are higher than the money received by some non-relegated teams and are designed to soften the financial hit that clubs take whilst dropping out of the Premier League. However, in many cases these parachute payments just serve to inflate the costs of competing for promotion among the lower division clubs as newly relegated teams retain a financial advantage. If these are not satisfied, a team may be promoted in their place. While the primary purpose of the system is to maintain competitive balance. On several occasions, the Italian Football Federation has relegated clubs found to have involved in match-fixing. This occurred most recently in 2006, when the initial champions Juventus were relegated to Serie B. An exception is the proposed UEFA Nations League, which will feature promotion and relegation across four levels, in tennis, the Davis Cup has promotion and relegation where each group uses a knockout tournament format in which first-round losers play off to avoid relegation. In the United States, Canada, and Australia, teams are not promoted or relegated. The USL set up two leagues, now known as the United Soccer League and the Premier Development League, although the system is now in place, it is not compulsory and is rarely used

8.
German Football Association
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The German Football Association is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of the mens and womens national teams, the DFB headquarters are based in Frankfurt am Main. Sole members of the DFB are the German Football League, organising the professional Bundesliga, Bundesliga, along with five regional and 21 state associations, organising the semi-professional and amateur levels. The 21 state associations of the DFB have a number of more than 25,000 clubs with more than 6.8 million members. From 1875 to the mid-1880s, the first kind of football played in Germany was according to rugby rules, later, association-style football teams formed separate clubs, and since 1890, they began to organise on regional and national levels. The DFB was founded on 28 January 1900 in Leipzig by representatives of 86 clubs, the vote held to establish the association was 62,22 in favour. Some delegates present represented more than one club, but may have voted only once, other delegates present did not carry their clubs authority to cast a ballot. The DFB consolidated the number of state-based German regional competitions in play for a single recognized national title for the season 1902/03. The German national team played its first game in 1908, before 1914, the German Empire was much larger than todays Germany, comprising Alsace-Lorraine and the eastern provinces. The borders of the associations were drawn according to suitable railway connections. Also, teams based in Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary, were eligible, as they were German Football clubs, thus, a German team from Prague was runner-up in the German championship. On the other hand, clubs of the Danish minority in Northern Schleswig refused to join the DFB and this area after World War I voted to join Denmark. Due to border changes imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, the DFB had to adopt its structure, the Saarland, Danzig, and the Memelland were detached from Germany and East Prussia was cut off from the main part by the Polish Corridor. The role of DFB and its representatives like Felix Linnemann under Nazi Germany was documented in 100 Jahre DFB, on a short general meeting on 9 July 1933 in Berlin, the DFB did so, at least formally. Later, the Hitler salute was made compulsory, Marxists and Jews were expelled, on the pitch, Germany had done well in 1934, but after a 0–2 loss in the 1936 Summer Olympics, with Adolf Hitler attending, the DFB and football fell from grace. Germany had made a bid to host the 1938 World Cup, following the Anschluss in March 1938 that made Austria part of Germany, the Austrian Football Association became part of the German federation. Four Germans represented West Europe in a FIFA friendly on 20 June 1937 in Amsterdam, during the war, Germany played international games until 1942. In the aftermath of World War II, German organisations were disbanded by the allies, FIFA decided in November 1945 to ban the no longer existing DFB from international competition, while the Austrian association was re-founded

9.
Karlsruher SC
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Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. KSC rose out of the consolidation of a number of predecessor clubs and they have played in the Bundesliga, but were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga in 1998 and in 2009, in 2012, they were relegated to the 3. Liga through play-offs, and in 2013, they were promoted back to the 2, the most successful of these ancestral clubs was Karlsruher Fussball Club Phönix, formed on 6 June 1894 by dissatisfied members of the gymnastics club Karlsruher Turngemeinde. In 1912, Phönix merged with KFC Alemannia, established in 1897 and it was as Phönix Karlsruhe that the club joined the Gauliga Baden, one of 16 top-flight divisions created in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. They slipped from the first division for a season in 1936. In the 1943–44 season, Karlsruhe played with Germania Durlach as the wartime side named KSG Phönix/Germania Karlsruhe. After World War II in 1946, Phönix re-emerged to compete in the newly formed first division Oberliga Süd, the club was relegated the following season. Two other threads in the evolution of KSC were the formation of FC Mühlburg in 1905 out of 1, FV Sport Mühlburg and Viktoria Mühlburg, and the merger of FC Germania and FC Weststadt to form VfB Karlsruhe in 1911. FC Mühlburg and VfB Karlsruhe would in turn merge to form VfB Mühlburg in 1933, the group of clubs which came together to form VfB Mühlburg were an undistinguished lot, sharing just one season of upper-league play between them. The new side, however, started to compete in the first-division Gauliga Baden immediately after the league was established in 1933, a lower-table side through the 1930s, VfBs performance improved considerably in the following decade. The Gauliga Baden collapsed in 1944–45 after playing a reduced schedule in which many teams. After the war the club slipped from top-flight competition until earning promotion to the Oberliga Süd in 1947. KFC Phoenix and VfB Mühlburg united to form the Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V. on 16 October 1952, in 1955, they beat Schalke 04 3–2 to win the DFB-Pokal, and repeated the success next year with a 3–1 win over Hamburger SV. That season, they made an appearance in the national final. KSC was Oberliga Süd champion in 1956,1958 and 1960, as well as runner-up in the DFB-Pkal in 1960 and their record earned them admission as one of sixteen founding clubs into Germanys new professional football league, the Bundesliga, when it began play in 1963. Karlsruhe struggled in the top flight, never managing better than a 13th-place finish over five seasons before finally being demoted to the second-division Regionalliga Süd. Over the next three seasons, the team earned a first-place finish as well as two second-place finishes there, but were unable to advance in the promotion rounds, after the 1974 formation of the 2

10.
FC Schalke 04
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The 04 in the clubs name derives from its formation in 1904. Schalke play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, as of December 2015, the club has 140,000 members, making it the second-largest sports club in Germany and the sixth-largest sports club in the world in terms of membership. Other activities offered by the club include athletics, basketball, handball, table tennis, winter sports, founded in 1904, Schalke has won seven German championships, five DFB-Pokals, one DFL-Supercup and one UEFA Cup. Since 2001, Schalkes stadium is the Veltins-Arena, Schalke was ranked as the seventh-best football team in Europe by UEFAs 2015 UEFA club rankings. In terms of operating income, Schalke possesses the seventh-highest operating income of any club at $64.4 million or £38.2 million. Schalke also generates the 14th-highest revenue of any club, at $265.6 million or £157.8 million. In May 2014, Schalke 04 were ranked by Forbes magazine as the 14th-most valuable football club, at £355 million or $599 million, the club was founded on 4 May 1904 as Westfalia Schalke by a group of high school students and first wore the colours red and yellow. The team was unable to gain admittance to the Westdeutscher Spielverband, in 1912, after years of failed attempts to join the official league, they merged with the gymnastic club Schalker Turnverein 1877 in order to facilitate their entry. This arrangement held up until 1915 when SV Westfalia Schalke was re-established as an independent club, the separation proved short-lived and the two came together again in 1919 as Turn- und Sportverein Schalke 1877. The new club won its first honours in 1923 as champions of the Schalke Kreisliga, in 1924, the football team parted ways with the gymnasts again, this time taking the club chairman along with them. They took the name FC Schalke 04 and adopted the now familiar blue, the following year, the club became the dominant local side, based on a style of play that used short, sharp, man-to-man passing to move the ball. This system would become famous as the Schalker Kreisel. In 1927, it carried them into the top-flight Gauliga Ruhr, onto the league championship, the popular club built a new stadium, the Glückauf-Kampfbahn, in 1928, and acknowledged the citys support by renaming themselves FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04. However, the ban had little impact on the popularity, in their first game after the ban against Fortuna Düsseldorf, in June 1931. The clubs fortunes begun to rise from 1931 and they made a appearance in the 1932 German championship. The year after, the club went all the way to the final and this league saw Schalkes most successful decade in their history, from 1933 to 1942, the club would appear in 14 of 18 national finals and win their league in every one of its eleven seasons. Schalkes first national title came in 1934 with a 2–1 victory over favourites 1, the next year, they successfully defended their title against VfB Stuttgart with a 6–4 win. The club missed the 1936 final, but would make appearances in the match in each of the next six years

11.
Tennis Borussia Berlin
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Tennis Borussia Berlin is a German football club based in Berlin–Westend. The team was founded in 1902 as Berliner Tennis- und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia taking its name from its origins as a tennis, Borussia is a Latinised version of Prussia and was a widely used name for sports clubs in the former state of Prussia. In 1903 the club took up football and quickly developed a rivalry with Berlins leading side Hertha BSC, in 1913 the club changed its name to Berliner Tennis Club Borussia. They won their first city championship in 1932 in the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg and repeated the feat in 1941. The team played in tier II leagues throughout the 60s and 70s with the exception of two short-lived forays into the Bundesliga in 1974–75 and 1976–77, most of the 1980s were spent playing in the third tier Oberliga Berlin. Through most of its history TeBe has been afflicted by financial problems but has managed to hang on while many other of Berlins clubs folded or disappeared in mergers. In 1997–98, a deep-pocketed sponsor brought expensive new talent to the team as they made a run at a return to 2, Bundesliga, which they achieved, winning the Regionalliga Nordost. While initially successful, the bid collapsed in 2000 as the teams finances failed and they were refused a license and were forcibly relegated to the Regionalliga Nord where they finished last in 2000–01 and so slipped further still to the NOFV-Oberliga Nord the following season. Finally, in 2000, the club had adopted its current name Tennis Borussia Berlin, as the club had always been known under this moniker and it continued playing in the fourth tier – fifth after the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 – until 2009, when they won the Oberliga championship, after running into financial difficulties once again, the club went into administration and dropped back down to the NOFV-Oberliga Nord for the 2010–11 season. The fan movement started in the 1980s when TeBe began having its biggest successes, despite their fall down the leagues the club still enjoys a relatively strong support. The fans consider themselves fiercely left-wing, and frequently the fans cultivate the clubs Jewish traditions as well as actions against antisemitism, racism, as of 24 February 2016 Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality, past players who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles can be found here. Regionalliga Berlin, Champions 1965,19742

12.
FC Bayern Munich
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Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. commonly known as FC Bayern München, FCB, Bayern Munich, or FC Bayern, is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. FC Bayern was founded in 1900 by 11 football players, led by Franz John, although Bayern won its first national championship in 1932, the club was not selected for the Bundesliga at its inception in 1963. The club had its period of greatest success in the middle of the 1970s when, under the captaincy of Franz Beckenbauer, overall, Bayern has reached ten European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals, most recently winning their fifth title in 2013 as part of a continental treble. Since the formation of the Bundesliga, Bayern has been the dominant club in German football with 26 titles and has won 8 of the last 12 titles and they have traditional local rivalries with 1860 Munich and 1. FC Nürnberg, as well as with Borussia Dortmund since the mid-1990s, since the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Bayern has played its home games at the Allianz Arena. Previously the team had played at Munichs Olympiastadion for 33 years, the team colours are red and white, and the team crest shows the white and blue flag of Bavaria. In terms of revenue, Bayern Munich is the biggest sports club in Germany, as of November 2016, Bayern has over 284,000 members. There are more than 4,000 officially-registered fan clubs with over 314,000 members, the club has other departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis and senior football with more than 1,100 active members. FC Bayern is ranked second in the current UEFA club coefficient rankings, FC Bayern Munich was founded by members of a Munich gymnastics club. Within a few months, Bayern achieved high-scoring victories against all rivals, including a 15–0 win against FC Nordstern. In the following years, the club won some trophies and in 1910–11 Bayern joined the newly founded Kreisliga. The club won league in its first year, but did not win it again until the beginning of World War I in 1914. In the years after the war, Bayern won several regional competitions before winning its first South German championship in 1926, an achievement repeated two years later. Its first national title was gained in 1932, when coach Richard Little Dombi Kohn led the team to the German championship by defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2–0 in the final, the advent of Nazism put an abrupt end to Bayerns development. Club president Kurt Landauer and the coach, both of whom were Jewish, left the country, many others in the club were also purged. Bayern was taunted as the Jews club, while local rival 1860 Munich gained much support, josef Sauter, who was inaugurated 1943, was the only NSDAP member as president. As some Bayern players greeted Landauer, who was watching a friendly in Switzerland lead to continued discrimination, Bayern was also affected by the ruling that football players had to be full amateurs again. In the following years, Bayern could not sustain its role of contender for the national title, after the war, Bayern became a member of the Oberliga Süd, the southern conference of the German first division, which was split five ways at that time

13.
Spandauer SV
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Spandauer SV was a German football club from Berlin. The capital city was one of the earliest centres of German football and was home to 1, Spandauer Fußballklub Triton, formed on 24 May 1894, and Sportclub Germania Spandau, formed on 15 October 1895. These two sides merged late in 1920 to form Spandauer Sport-Vereinigung 94/95 e. V. the predecessor of todays club, the team was promoted to the Verbandsliga Berlin-Brandenburg in 1921 where they earned a string of third- and fourth-place finishes. Their best result was a distant second place behind Hertha BSC in 1928, German football was re-organized under the Third Reich in 1933 into sixteen top flight Gauligen. SSV joined the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg and played there until relegated in 1936 and they returned briefly in 1939 only to be immediately relegated again. In 1944, towards the end of World War II, Spandauer, after the conflict the club was dissolved, like most other organizations in Germany, including sports and football associations. It was re-constituted in 1945 as SG Spandau-Altstadt and played in the citys first postwar league, the first division Oberliga Berlin was formed a year later and the club played there as SG Spandau-Altstadt beginning in 1947. By the end of 1949 the team took on its current name Spandauer Sport-Verein 1894 e. V and they were relegated for a season, but managed a return to the top flight the next year. Spandau consistently finished in the half of the league table. SSV captured three consecutive Berlin Cups in 1954–1956 and advanced as far as the final round of the 1957 German Cup where they were put out 1,4 by Bayern Munich. Berlins representative in Germanys new profession football league, the Bundesliga, Spandau continued play in what was now the second tier Regionalliga Berlin. The club had a role in the debacle of SC Tasmania 1900 Berlins promotion to the top-flight Bundesliga after Hertha was demoted for breaking the leagues player salary rules. The politics of the Cold War era led to a space being held open for a Berlin side in the top league to replace Hertha in a show of solidarity with the capital city. Spandau – coming off a second-place finish – refused an offer to advance, leaving the way open to Tasmania, Spandau continued to play as a tier II side in the Regionalliga Berlin until slipping to the Amateurliga Berlin for the 1974–75 season. When they returned to second level play the year they found themselves in the newly established 2. Spandau finished dead last, never once rising from the position, with a record of 2 wins,4 draws. They did not earn their first point until a 15th round 1–1 draw with SG Wattenscheid 09 and their first victory did not come until their 23rd round match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. By seasons end they had been outscored 33,115, the club returned to tier III football in the amateur city league where they would play for the next 23 seasons

14.
Olympiastadion (Berlin)
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The Olympiastadion Berlin is a sports stadium in Berlin, Germany. It was originally built for the 1936 Summer Olympics by Werner March, during the Olympics, the record attendance was thought to be over 100,000. Today the stadium is part of the Olympiapark Berlin, since renovations in 2004, the Olympiastadion has a permanent capacity of 74,475 seats and is the largest stadium in Germany for international football matches. Olympiastadion is a UEFA category four stadium and one of the worlds most prestigious venues for sporting, besides its use as an athletics stadium, the arena has built a footballing tradition. Since 1963, it has been the ground of the Hertha BSC football team. It hosted three matches in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and it was renovated for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when it hosted six matches, including the final. The German Cup final match is held each year at the venue, the Olympiastadion Berlin served as a host for the 2011 FIFA Womens World Cup as well as the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final. During the 1912 Summer Olympics, the city of Berlin was designated by the International Olympic Committee to host the 1916 Summer Olympics. Germanys proposed stadium for this event was to be located in Charlottenburg, in the Grunewald Forest, a horse racing-course already existed there which belonged to the Berliner Rennverein, and even today the old ticket booths survive on Jesse-Owens-Allee. The government of Germany decided not to build in the nearby Grunewald forest, because of this desire, they hired the same architect who originally had built the Rennverein, Otto March. March decided to bury the stadium in the ground, however, the 1916 Olympic Games were cancelled due to World War I. From 1926 to 1929, Otto Marchs sons were assigned to build an annex for these institutions, in 1931, the International Olympic Committee made Berlin the host city of the 11th Summer Olympics. Originally, the German government decided merely to restore the earlier Olympiastadion of 1916, when the Nazis came to power in Germany, they decided to use the Olympic Games in 1936 for propaganda purposes. With these plans in mind, Adolf Hitler ordered the construction of a sports complex in Grunewald named the Reichssportfeld with a totally new Olympiastadion. Architect Werner March remained in charge of the project, assisted by his brother Walter, construction took place from 1934 to 1936. When the Reichssportfeld was finished, it was 1.32 square kilometres and it consisted of, the Olympiastadion, the Maifeld and the Waldbühne amphitheater, in addition to various places, buildings and facilities for different sports in the northern part. Werner March built the new Olympiastadion on the foundation of the original Deutsches Stadion, the capacity of the Olympiastadion reached 110,000 spectators. It also possessed a special stand for Adolf Hitler and his political associates, at its end, aligned with the symmetrically-designed layout of the buildings of the Olympischer Platz and toward the Maifeld, was the Marathon Gate with a big receptacle for the Olympic Flame

15.
1. FC Kaiserslautern
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Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V. also known as 1. FC Kaiserslautern, is a club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is internationally known, especially through its football division, on 2 June 1900, Germania 1896 and FG Kaiserslautern merged to create FC1900. In 1909, the club went on to join FC Palatia, in 1929, they merged with SV Phönix to become FV Phönix-Kaiserslautern before finally taking on their current name three years later. As a founding member of the Bundesliga the FCK played from 1963 to 1996 through in the first league, Kaiserslautern have won four German championships, two DFB-Pokals, and one DFL-Supercup and is by titles among the most successful football clubs in Germany. The FCK currently occupies the place in the All-time Bundesliga table. The clubs international successes included reaching the Champions League quarter-finals in 1999 as well as participation in the UEFA Cup semi-final. Kaiserslautern won the German championship in the 1997/98 season as a promoter which is unique in German football, since 1920, Kaiserslauterns stadium is the Fritz-Walter-Stadion, named after the captain of the DFB national team, who won the world title in 1954. In addition to the division, it operates also in basketball, boxing, handball, hockey, running, athletics, wheelchair basketball. Two of the predecessors, Bavaria and FC1900 Kaiserslautern, were part of the Westkreis-Liga when this league was formed in 1908. From 1909 through 1918, the new FV Kaiserslautern performed well, the clubs performance was unremarkable in the years leading up to World War II, but improved after 1939. They captured the Gauliga Südwest/Staffel Saarpfalz title, but lost the division title to Staffel Mainhessen winners Kickers Offenbach. They were decisively put out 3–9 by eventual champions Schalke 04, the performance of the team slipped and they finished last in their division in 1944. The following year saw the collapse of league play in part of Germany as the Third Reich crumbled under the advance of Allied armies. After the war, Southwestern Germany was part of the occupation zone held by the French, teams there were organized into northern and southern divisions and played to determine which of them would join the new Oberliga being put together. FC Kaiserslautern resumed play in the Oberliga Südwest in 1945 and finished the season just one point behind 1 and this marked the beginning of the clubs dominance of the Oberliga Südwest as they went on to capture the division title eleven times over the next twelve seasons. FCK advanced to Germanys first post-war national final in 1948, Kaiserslautern became a presence on the national scene through the early 1950s, capturing their first German championship in 1951 with a 2–1 victory of their own, this time over Preußen Münster. They won a title in 1953, followed by two losing final appearances in 1954 and 1955

16.
Wuppertaler SV
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Wuppertaler SV is a German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in 1929 out of the union of a number of towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg. Wuppertal Sport Verein was formed in 1954 out of the merger TSG Vohwinkel, in addition to the football side, todays sports club includes departments for boxing, gymnastics, handball, and track and field. The side was re-christened SSV04 Wuppertal the following year and remained in the Gauliga another two seasons until relegated in 1940. The union of the two associations that created Wuppertaler SV in 1954 paid almost immediate dividends as the combined side vaulted to the top, wuppertals return to the Oberliga was less successful despite the presence of players such as rising star Horst Szymaniak and Austrian international Erich Probst. The club could not escape the lower half of the table and was relegated following a next-to-last place finish in 1958, WSV returned to the top flight for the 1962–1963 campaign, which was the last Oberliga season before the creation of the new first division Bundesliga. The following year the club part of the Regionalliga West. Wuppertal delivered a performance, finishing second in their division to Alemannia Aachen. They remained competitive throughout the remainder of the 60s and on into the early 70s and they broke through to the top flight on the strength of a Regionalliga West title and victory in the subsequent Bundesliga promotion playoffs in 1972. WSV swept its opposition, winning all eight of its promotion round matches, die Löwen played three seasons in the top flight with their debut 1972-73 season being their most successful. The fourth place finish earned the club a place in the 1973-74 UEFA Cup tournament the season after and they went out in the first round 6,8 on aggregate to Polish side Ruch Chorzów. In the league that season only escaped relegation on goal difference after an 82nd minute away goal in the match of their campaign in Stuttgart. Widely regarded as having too old a roster to compete, in the top tier season the club stumbled to an ignominious last place finish on 12 points. This stands as the second-worst ever Bundesliga result, only four points better than the Tasmania Berlin side of 1965–66, the only bright spot of this poor campaign was a 3,1 victory over the Bayern Munich side built around Franz Beckenbauer that dominated European football at the time. After the 1975 relegation from the Bundesliga, Wuppertal next played five seasons in the second tier 2. Bundesliga until 1980, from 1980 the played a dozen seasons in the Amateur Oberliga Nordrhein. The club had a brush with bankruptcy in 1998 and the next season was sent down to the Oberliga Nordrhein for failing to pay their dues. By 2003 they had earned a return to the Regionalliga Nord, in 2004, the club merged with Borussia Wuppertal to become Wuppertaler SV Borussia adopting the red and blue colours and logo of the more senior WSV. Borussia had been formed in 1976 through the union of SV Germania 1907 Wuppertal, like SSV, Germania was also the successor to an Elberfeld club – Germania Elberfeld – which took part in the preliminary rounds of the national finals in the early 30s

17.
F.C. Hansa Rostock
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F. C. Hansa Rostock is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the former East Germany and have made appearances in the top-flight Bundesliga. After being in the Bundesliga for ten years, from 1995 to 2005, in 2012, the club was relegated to the 3. Liga for the time and is now playing there for the fifth consecutive season. The club was established on 1 November 1954 as the multi-sport Sportclub Empor Rostock, the wholesale transfer of the Lauterers to Rostock part way through the 1954–55 season led to the disappearance of that association from play. A new club was formed in 1956 as BSG Motor Lauter and on 1 August 1990, newly formed SC Empor Rostock took the place of the former Lauter-based club in first division play in November 1954. They finished second the season, but in 1956 plunged to 14th place and were relegated. The new clubs name acknowledged Rostocks history as one of the trading centres of northern Europes Hanseatic League. This is their top flight title to date in play in East Germany or the unified Germany. They also captured the last ever East German Cup with a 1–0 win over FC Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt, Hansa, however, was unable to stay up and was relegated after falling just a single point shy of SG Wattenscheid 09. Three seasons of tempering in the 2, Bundesliga would return the club to the top flight for the 1995–96 season. In ten years spent in the Bundesliga, the teams best results were a pair of sixth-place finishes. In spite of frequent placings in the bottom-half of the league table, on 1 December 2002, Rostock became the first club to field six foreigners from the same country in a Bundesliga match. Rostock had a poor first half in the 2004–05 season. After two years in the 2, Bundesliga, the club returned to the top-flight for the 2007–08 season, but was again relegated. The clubs poor form continued in 2009–10 and they finished third-last, with this season, a new promotion/relegation format accompanied the introduction of the 3. Liga and Rostock found itself in a playoff versus the third place third division club FC Ingolstadt, Hansa lost both legs of the contest and was sent down to the 3. Liga, while Ingolstadt won promotion to the 2, Bundesliga alongside the top two third tier teams which advanced automatically by virtue of their finishes

18.
Arminia Bielefeld
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DSC Arminia Bielefeld is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of football, field hockey, figure skating, the club has 12,000 members and the club colours are black, white and blue. Arminias name derives from the Cheruscian chieftain Arminius, who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the club is most commonly known for its professional football team that play in the 2. Bundesliga and mostly played in the first or second tier of the German football league system, Arminias most successful years were the 1920s, the early 1980s and the middle 2000s. In 1947 and in the 1950s Arminia had sunk down to a team playing in a local area in the third tier. Arminia plays their games at the Bielefelder Alm Stadium since 1926. Since 2004 the stadium has been named SchücoArena through a sponsorship deal, Arminia Bielefeld was founded on 3 May 1905 as 1. The fourteen men who founded the club were from the local bourgeoisie, two weeks later, the club played its first match against a team from Osnabrück. Neither the name of the opponent nor the result are known, the club was admitted to the German Football Association in the same year and started to play in a league in 1906. In 1907, local rivals FC Siegfried joined Arminia, a move which strengthened Arminia‘s squad. after playing on various grounds, Arminia moved to a new home at the Pottenau in 1910. Their first big achievement came in 1912, when they won the Westphalian championship after a 5–1 win over BV04 Dortmund in the final, the outbreak of World War I interrupted Arminias rise to the top. In 1919, Arminia merged with Bielefelder Turngemeinde 1848 to form TG Arminia Bielefeld, however, the two merged teams dissolved the merger in 1922 and both parent clubs were formed again. Arminia won the West German championship in 1922, originally, they were level on points with Kölner BC01, but Köln fielded an ineligible player in one match. Arminia played for the first time in the German Championships but were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 0–5 to FC Wacker München, in 1923, Arminia won their second West German championship in a dramatic way. They trailed TuRU Düsseldorf 1–3 at half time of the final, Arminia faced Union Oberschöneweide in the quarter-finals of the German championships. The match ended goalless, so a replay was held, Arminia led 1–0 and suffered the equalizer in injury time. The Berlin side won the match after extra time, Walter Claus-Oehler became Arminia‘s first player to win a cap in the German national team. Arminia won further Westphalian titles from 1924 to 1927 but were unable to repeat their success in the West German Championships, a match between SC Preußen Münster and Arminia in November 1925 was the first football match to be broadcast on German Radio

19.
MSV Duisburg
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Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg, is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed Die Zebras for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was one of the members of the Bundesliga when it was formed in 1963. The club was founded in 1902 as Meidericher Spielverein, representing the city of Meiderich, in 1905, they absorbed the club Sport Club Viktoria Meiderich. In 1967, they took on their current name, acknowledging their role as the citys most popular, while Duisburg has always been a competitive side, real success has so far eluded them. Early in their history, they captured a number of local championships, in 1929, they won the first Niederrhein championship and qualified for the first time for the national championship rounds, repeating the feat in 1931. However, the then went into a tailspin from which they did not really recover until the 1950s. During World War II, the club close to folding. In 1951, Duisburg earned promotion to the top-flight Oberliga West with their finish in the 2. The clubs play was enough to earn a place as one of the original 16 teams in Germanys new professional league. That first season was their most successful as they finished second, behind only champions 1, the Zebras spent nearly 20 years in the upper league before slipping to the 2. Bundesliga in 1982–83 and then becoming one of German footballs elevator teams, named for their frequent up, even so, they managed another eight seasons in the Bundesliga over two-and-half decades. MSV Duisburg won promotion to the Bundesliga for the 2007–08 season by way of a finish in the 2. Bundesliga, behind Karlsruher SC and Hansa Rostock, Duisburg defeated Rot-Weiss Essen in a dramatic contest on the last day of the season 3–0, which secured their promotion for the fifth time in the last two decades while relegating Essen. However, the club fared poorly in top flight play and was relegated after an 18th-place result. During the next season, they focused on the promotion again, on 2 November 2009, Milan Šašić was presented as new coach. The Croat became the third coach in the club history. They finished the season like the one, sixth in the league table. In 2010–11, MSV Duisburg reached surprisingly their fourth DFB-Pokal Final—after 1966,1975, the game was lopsided, with MSV Duisburg conceding early on, and the game ultimately finishing 5–0 in favour of Schalke

20.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Bayer Leverkusen, Leverkusen or simply Bayer, is a German football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, the club was founded in 1904 by employees of the German pharmaceutical company Bayer, whose headquarters are in Leverkusen and from which the club draws its name. In 1999 the football department was separated from the club and is now a separate entity formally called Bayer 04 Leverkusen GmbH. Bayer Leverkusen have won one DFB-Pokal and one UEFA Cup, on 27 November 1903, Wilhelm Hauschild wrote a letter – signed by 170 of his fellow workers – to his employer, the Friedrich Bayer and Co. seeking the companys support in starting a sports club. The company agreed to support the initiative, and on 1 July 1904 Turn- und Spielverein Bayer 04 Leverkusen was founded, on 31 May 1907, a separate football department was formed within the club. In the culture of sports in Germany at the time, there was significant animosity between gymnasts and other types of athletes, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen took with them the clubs traditional colours of red and black, with the gymnasts adopting blue and yellow. Through this period, and into the 1930s, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen played third, in 1936, they earned promotion to the second highest class of play of the period. That was also the year that the club wore the familiar Bayer cross for the first time and they made their first appearance in upper league play in 1951, in the Oberliga West and played there until 1956, after which they were relegated. SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen would not return to the leagues until 1962, just one season before the formation of Germanys new professional league. The next year saw the club in the Regionalliga West, tier II, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen made something of a breakthrough in 1968 by winning the division title, but was unable to advance through the playoff round to the first division. The club was relegated again in 1973, but made a return to what was now called the 2. Bundesliga after just one season spent in the third division, four years later, the club handily secured a place in the Bundesliga to start to play there in the 1979–80 season. By the mid-1980s, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen had played its way into the half of the league table and was well-established there by the end of the decade. It was during time, in 1984, that the two-halves of the club that had parted ways over a half century earlier were re-united as TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen e. V. The new club took red and white as its colours, in addition to becoming an established Bundesliga side, the club earned its first honours with a dramatic win in the 1988 UEFA Cup. Down 0–3 to Espanyol after the first leg of the final, Bayer Leverkusen drew even in the match and then captured the title on penalty kicks. That same year, long-time Bayer Leverkusen executive Reiner Calmund became the manager of the club. This is regarded as one of the most important moves in the history, as Calmund ushered in a decade

21.
SSV Ulm 1846
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SSV Ulm 1846 is a German association football club from Ulm, Baden-Württemberg. The modern-day football department, officially playing as SSV Ulm 1846 Fussball, was formed on 9 March 2009 when the department separated from SSV Ulm 1846, the clubs greatest success has been promotion to the Bundesliga in 1998–99, where it played for just one season. Ulm has also spent eight seasons in the 2, the older of the two predecessor sides was founded on 12 April 1846 as Turnerbund Ulm. They had an on-again, off-again relationship with Turnverein Ulm through the 1850s, the football department became independent in 1926 as Ulmer Rasensport Verein and in 1939 would merge with Ulmer Fußball Verein, and their old clubmates in TB Ulm and TV Ulm, to form TSG Ulm 1846. In 1968 RSVgg Ulm became part of TSG Ulm 1846, schwimm- und Sportverein Ulm was formed in 1928. The club played there until the end of World War II, after the war they began play in the 2nd Oberliga Süd and did well enough to make occasional advances to the Oberliga Süd for short stays before falling back again. In 1968 RSVgg Ulm became part of TSG Ulm 1846, after the war and leading up to their union with TSG1846, they played as a third or fourth division side. SSV Ulm merged with TSG1846 to form SSV Ulm 1846, at the time of the merger both clubs were playing football in the tier III Amateurliga Württemberg and would continue to do so for a nearly a decade. Even though the issue was not decided until the last day of the season, the 2000–01 season was an unqualified disaster for the club, they could manage only another sixteenth-place finish and were sent back down to the Regionalliga Süd. They were then denied a license over the state of their finances which plunged the club all the way down to the fifth tier Verbandsliga Württemberg. Afterwards Ulm worked their way back, to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg in 2002, following the 2009 European football betting scandal, the club released three allegedly involved players, Davor Kraljević, Marijo Marinović and Dinko Radojević. In January 2011, the club was declared insolvent, and the results of the 2010-11 season were voided. In May 2014 SSV Ulm 1846 was once close to insolvency. The club eventually did enter administration and, because of this, was relegated from the Regionalliga back to the Oberliga, after two seasons in the Oberliga, SSV Ulm 1846 was promoted to the Regionalliga on 14 May 2016. The clubs honours, ‡ Won by TSG Ulm 1846, recent managers of the club, The recent season-by-season performance of the club, With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier, in 2012, the number of Regionalligas was increased from three to five with all Regionalliga Süd clubs except the Bavarian ones entering the new Regionalliga Südwest. Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality

22.
West Germany
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West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border, after 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states and this period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic. The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, US and British forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990, the city of Bonn was its de facto capital city. The fourth Allied occupation zone was held by the Soviet Union, as a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interbellum democratic Weimar Republic. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs, Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed a mandate for all of Germany. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state, though the GDR did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair. For all practical purposes the GDR was a Soviet puppet state, from the West German perspective the GDR was therefore illegitimate. Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, in addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto 11th state. It recognised the GDR as a de facto government within a single German nation that in turn was represented de jure by the West German state alone. From 1973 onward, East Germany recognised the existence of two German countries de jure, and the West as both de facto and de jure foreign country, the Federal Republic and the GDR agreed that neither of them could speak in the name of the other. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for an alignment with NATO rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union, when the G6 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well. With the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its five post-war states were reconstituted along with the reunited Berlin and they formally joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16, ending the division of Germany

23.
Hungary
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Hungary is a unitary parliamentary republic in Central Europe. With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a member state of the European Union. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken language in Europe. Hungarys capital and largest metropolis is Budapest, a significant economic hub, major urban areas include Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, Pécs and Győr. His great-grandson Stephen I ascended to the throne in 1000, converting the country to a Christian kingdom, by the 12th century, Hungary became a middle power within the Western world, reaching a golden age by the 15th century. Hungarys current borders were established in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon after World War I, when the country lost 71% of its territory, 58% of its population, following the interwar period, Hungary joined the Axis Powers in World War II, suffering significant damage and casualties. Hungary became a state of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the establishment of a four-decade-long communist dictatorship. On 23 October 1989, Hungary became again a democratic parliamentary republic, in the 21st century, Hungary is a middle power and has the worlds 57th largest economy by nominal GDP, as well as the 58th largest by PPP, out of 188 countries measured by the IMF. As a substantial actor in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds 36th largest exporter and importer of goods, Hungary is a high-income economy with a very high standard of living. It keeps up a security and universal health care system. Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 and part of the Schengen Area since 2007, Hungary is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the AIIB, the Council of Europe and Visegrád Group. Well known for its cultural history, Hungary has been contributed significantly to arts, music, literature, sports and science. Hungary is the 11th most popular country as a tourist destination in Europe and it is home to the largest thermal water cave system, the second largest thermal lake in the world, the largest lake in Central Europe, and the largest natural grasslands in Europe. The H in the name of Hungary is most likely due to historical associations with the Huns. The rest of the word comes from the Latinized form of Medieval Greek Oungroi, according to an explanation the Greek name was borrowed from Proto-Slavic Ǫgǔri, in turn borrowed from Oghur-Turkic Onogur. Onogur was the name for the tribes who later joined the Bulgar tribal confederacy that ruled the eastern parts of Hungary after the Avars. The Hungarians likely belonged to the Onogur tribal alliance and it is possible they became its ethnic majority. The Hungarian endonym is Magyarország, composed of magyar and ország, the word magyar is taken from the name of one of the seven major semi-nomadic Hungarian tribes, magyeri

24.
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Covering an area of 255,804 km², the SFRY was bordered with Italy to the west, Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east and Albania and Greece to the south. In addition, it included two autonomous provinces within Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina, the SFRY traces back to 29 June 1943 when the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia was formed during World War II. On 29 November 1945, the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed after the deposal of King Peter II thus ending the monarchy. Following the death of Tito on 4 May 1980, rising ethnic nationalism in the late 1980s led to dissidence among the multiple ethnicities within the constituent republics. This led to the federation collapsing along the borders, followed by the final downfall and breakup of the federation on 27 April 1992. The term former Yugoslavia is now commonly used retrospectively, the name Yugoslavia, an Anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija, is a composite word made-up of jug and slavija. The Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian word jug means south, while slavija denotes a land of the Slavs, thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be South-Slavia or Land of the South Slavs. The term is intended to denote the lands occupied by the six South Slavic nations, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Slovenes, the full official name of the federation varied significantly between 1945 and 1992. Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, the name deliberately left the republic-or-kingdom question open. In 1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced, the state is most commonly referred to by the latter name, which it held for the longest period of all. The most common abbreviation is SFRY, though SFR Yugoslavia was also used in an official capacity, particularly by the media. On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany, by 17 April 1941, Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms, the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito, and under his command the movement soon began establishing liberated territories which attracted the attentions of the occupying forces. The coalition of parties, factions, and prominent individuals behind the movement was the Peoples Liberation Front. The Front formed a political body, the Anti-Fascist Council for the Peoples Liberation of Yugoslavia. The AVNOJ, which met for the first time in Partisan-liberated Bihać on 26 November 1942, during 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations of Fall Weiss and Fall Schwartz, the Axis attempted to stamp-out the Yugoslav resistance once, on both occasions, despite heavy casualties, the Group succeeded in evading the trap and retreating to safety. The Partisans emerged stronger than before and now occupied a significant portion of Yugoslavia

25.
FC Augsburg
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Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V. commonly known as FC Augsburg or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, the team was founded as Fußball-Klub Alemania Augsburg in 1907 and played as BC Augsburg from 1921 to 1969. With over 12,200 members, it is the largest football club in Swabian Bavaria, FC Augsburg, which has long fluctuated between the second and third division, experienced a difficult time in the early 2000s, suffering relegation to the fourth division for two seasons. FCA recovered from this, returning to football in 2006. At the end of the 2010–11 season, Augsburg were promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time, since 2009, FC Augsburgs stadium has been the WWK ARENA. A first serious meeting between the two sides was held in 1964, both clubs having dropped out of football by then. The leadership of the multi-sports club Schwaben was completely behind a merger but the football department was not. In 1968, with BCA struggling in the division after relegation from professional football the year before and Schwaben soon to follow. In April 1969, a meeting between the two club bosses brought the decision to merge the clubs and name the new side FC Augsburg. FCA was to be a football only with no other sports department. The then-mayor of Augsburg, Hans Breuer, was one of the forces behind the move. In June,256 of 265 of BCAs members present voted for the merger while, shortly after,75 percent of Schwabens members approved the motion, too. Schwaben, however, opted for the small club was to remain independent with only its football department merging into the new club. But even this move was not universally popular within the club, with former members forming a new football club, Eintracht Augsburg. For this reason, FCA is generally not considered to carry on the traditions of TSV Schwaben, a year later, the footballers of Eintracht rejoined Schwaben but, since then, have always remained an amateur club. It took the new department until 1981 to regain its third-division status. The new FCA played its first game on 30 July 1969, FC Nürnberg in Augsburg in front of 13,000, losing 0–3 in extra time. After the formation of the club in 1969, the side was to spend most of its time in tier-two, the new side, despite now concentrating Augsburgs football forces, was no instant success

26.
SV Werder Bremen
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Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. commonly known as Werder Bremen, is a German sports club located in Bremen in the northwest German federal state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The club was founded in 1899 and has grown to 40,400 members and it is best known for its association football team. Bremens football club has been a mainstay in the Bundesliga, the top league of the German football league system, Bremen have won the Bundesliga championship four times and the DFB-Pokal six times. Their latest Bundesliga championship came in 2004, when they won a double, Bremen have also had European success, winning the 1992 European Cup Winners Cup. Since 1924, Werder Bremens stadium is the Weserstadion, Werder Bremens coach Viktor Skrypnyk was dismissed in September 2016. Werder Bremen has a rivalry with Hamburger SV, another Bundesliga club in northern Germany, the club was founded on 4 February 1899 as Fußballverein Werder by a group of 16 vocational high school students who had won a prize of sports equipment. The students took the name from the seldom-used regional German word for river peninsula. The predecessor to Bremen, known as SV Werder, played its first ever match on 10 September 1899 against ASC1898 Bremen coming away with a 1–0 victory, in 1900, FV Bremen was represented at the founding of the German Football Association at Leipzig. The club then enjoyed some success, fielding competitive sides. They became the first club to charge spectators a fee to attend their games, in April 1914, the club became a department of Allgemeiner Bremer Turnverein 1860 and was briefly known as Sportabteilung Werder des ABTV. The relationship was short-lived, however, and the club went its own way again less than two months later, steady growth after World War I led the club to adopt other sports and, on 19 January 1920, change their name to the current Sportverein Werder Bremen. Football remained their primary interest, so much so that in 1922, the team made regular appearances in year-end NFV qualification round play through the 1920s and on into the early 1930s, but did not enjoy any success. German football was re-organized under the Third Reich in 1933 into 16 first division known as Gauligen. The club scored its first real successes, capturing titles in 1934,1936, and 1937. The shape of the Gauligen changed through the course of World War II and in 1939, SV played in the Gauliga Niedersachsen/Nord where they captured a fourth title in 1942. As the war overtook the country, the Gauligen became progressively more local in character, the Gauliga Niedersachsen/Nord became the Gauliga Weser-Ems and then the Gauliga Weser-Ems/Bremen over the next two years. Werders 1944–45 season was cut short after just two matches, like other organizations throughout Germany, the club was disbanded on the order of the occupying Allied authorities after the war. They re-constituted themselves on 10 November 1945 as Turn- und Sportverein Werder 1945 Bremen, the team played in the Stadtliga Bremen, and after capturing the title there, participated in the northern German championship round, advancing to the quarter-finals

27.
Borussia Dortmund
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Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund, BVB, or simply Dortmund, is a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. The football team is part of a large membership-based sports club more than 145,000 members. Dortmund plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, Dortmund is one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund was founded in 1909 by eighteen football players from Dortmund, Borussia Dortmund have won eight German championships, three DFB-Pokals, five DFL-Supercups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners Cup, and one Intercontinental Cup. Their Cup Winners Cup win in 1966 made them the first German club to win a European title, since 1974, Dortmund have played their home games at Westfalenstadion, named after its home region of Westphalia. The stadium is the largest in Germany and Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any football club in the world. Borussia Dortmunds colours are black and yellow, giving the club its nickname die Schwarzgelben, Dortmund holds a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Schalke 04, known as the Revierderby. In terms of Deloittes annual Football Money League, Dortmund is the second biggest sports club in Germany, father Dewald was blocked at the door when he tried to break up the organizing meeting being held in a room of the local pub, Zum Wildschütz. The name Borussia is Latin for Prussia but was taken from Borussia beer from the nearby Borussia brewery in Dortmund, the team began playing in blue and white striped shirts with a red sash, and black shorts. In 1913, they donned the black and yellow stripes so familiar today, over the next decades the club enjoyed only modest success playing in local leagues. They had a brush with bankruptcy in 1929 when an attempt to boost the clubs fortunes by signing some paid professional footballers failed miserably and they survived only through the generosity of a local supporter who covered the teams shortfall out of his own pocket. The 1930s saw the rise of the Third Reich, which restructured sports, the club did have greater success in the newly established Gauliga Westfalen, but would have to wait until after World War II to make a breakthrough. It was during this time that Borussia developed its intense rivalry with Schalke 04 of suburban Gelsenkirchen, like every other organisation in Germany, Borussia was dissolved by the Allied occupation authorities after the war in an attempt to distance the countrys institutions from its so-recent Nazi past. Between 1946 and 1963, Borussia featured in the Oberliga West, in 1949, Borussia reached the final in Stuttgart against VfR Mannheim, which they lost 2–3 after extra time. The club claimed its first national title in 1956 with a 4–2 win against Karlsruher SC, one year later, Borussia defeated Hamburger SV 4–1 to win their second national title. After this coup, the three Alfredos were legends in Dortmund, in 1963, Borussia won the last edition of the German Football Championship to secure their third national title. In 1962, the DFB met in Dortmund and voted to establish a professional football league in Germany. Borussia Dortmund earned its place among the first sixteen clubs to play in the new league by winning the last pre-Bundesliga national championship, FC Köln also earned an automatic berth

28.
Eintracht Frankfurt
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The club was founded in 1899 and have won one German championship, four DFB-Pokals and one UEFA Cup. Since 1925, their stadium has been the Waldstadion, which since 1 July 2005, has been called Commerzbank-Arena for sponsorship reasons, both clubs were founding members of the new Nordkreis-Liga in 1909. In turn, Frankfurter FV joined the gymnastics club Frankfurter Turngemeinde von 1861 to form TuS Eintracht Frankfurt von 1861 in 1920. Through the late 1920s and into the 1930s, Eintracht won a handful of local and regional championships, first in the Kreisliga Nordmain, then in the Bezirksliga Main and Bezirksliga Main-Hessen. Eintracht picked up where left off after World War II, playing as a solid side in the first division Oberliga Süd. Eintracht lost 3–7 to Real Madrid in a final that was widely regarded as one of the best football matches ever played. The side continued to play football and earned themselves a place as one of the original 16 teams selected to play in the Bundesliga, Germanys new professional football league. Eintracht played Bundesliga football for 33 seasons, finishing in the top half of the table for the majority of them and their best Bundesliga performances were five third-place finishes, they ended just two points back of champion VfB Stuttgart in 1991–92. The team also avoided relegation on several occasions. In 1984, they defeated MSV Duisburg 6–1 on aggregate, FC Saarbrücken 4–1 on aggregate, in two-game playoffs. Eintracht finally slipped and were relegated to 2, at the time that they were sent down alongside 1. FC Kaiserslautern, these teams were two of four sides that had been in the Bundesliga since the leagues inaugural season. It looked as though they would be out again in 1998–99, FC Nürnberg unexpectedly lost at home to give Eintracht the break they needed to stay up. The club was plagued by financial difficulties again in 2004 before once more being relegated, between 1997 and 2005, Eintracht has bounced between the top two divisions. The 2010–11 season ended with the clubs fourth Bundesliga relegation, after setting a new record for most points in the first half of the season, the club struggled after the winter break. After seven games without scoring a goal, coach Michael Skibbe was doubted, the change, however, did little to change Eintrachts fortunes, as the club achieved only three draws out of the last seven games and were subsequently relegated on the 34th matchday. One year later, Eintracht defeated Alemannia Aachen 3–0 on the 32nd match day of the 2011–12 season, in 2015–16, Eintracht had the 19th-highest attendance in Europe, ahead of such prominent clubs as Atlético Madrid, Celtic and Paris Saint-Germain. The club has enjoyed success in competition outside the Bundesliga

29.
SC Freiburg
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Sport-Club Freiburg e. V. commonly known as SC Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Freiburg has traditionally bounced between the first and second tier of the German football league system, leading to the fan chant, We go down, we go up, since 1954, the clubs stadium has been the Schwarzwald-Stadion. Volker Finke, who was the manager between 1991 and 2007, was the longest-serving manager in the history of professional football in Germany. Joachim Löw, current manager of the Germany national team, is the clubs leading goal scorer with 81 goals in 252 games during his three spells at SCF. The club traces its origins to a pair of clubs founded in 1904, Freiburger Fußballverein 04 was organised in March of that year, FC Schwalbe Freiburg just two months later. Both clubs underwent name changes, with Schwalbe becoming FC Mars in 1905, Mars becoming Union Freiburg in 1906, three years later, SV and Union formed Sportclub Freiburg, at the same time incorporating the griffin head. In 1918, after the devastation of World War I, SC Freiburg entered an arrangement with Freiburger FC to be able to field a full side called KSG Freiburg. SC Freiburg then picked up again with FT1844 Freiburg in 1938, the club managed to play on highest level from 1928, first in the Bezirksliga Baden, then in the Gauliga Baden, from which they were relegated in 1934. At the end of World War II, Allied occupation authorities disbanded most existing organizations in Germany, including football and sports clubs. The clubs were permitted to reconstitute themselves after about a year, SC Freiburg was therefore briefly known as VfL Freiburg. By 1950, French-occupation authorities had let up enough to allow the clubs to reclaim their old identities, finally, in 1952, SC Freiburg left FT Freiburg behind again. To this point, the history of the club had been characterised by only modest success, through the 1930s, SC Freiburg played in the Bezirkliga, with the occasional turn in the Gauliga Baden, and captured a handful of local titles. After World War II, they picked up where left off. While only a club, SC Freiburg became known for the fight. Bundesliga in 1978–79, which they would compete in for a decade-and-a-half before making the breakthrough to the top-flight Bundesliga in 1993–94 under the management of Volker Finke, in their first Bundesliga season, Freiburg narrowly avoided relegation. They made a run in their second season at the top level, finishing third. It was at time that they were first nicknamed Breisgau-Brasilianer due to their attractive style of play

30.
Hannover 96
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Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96, Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German association football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. Hannover 96 play in the 2, Bundesliga, the second tier in the German football league system. Hannover 96 was founded in 1896, Hannover have won two German championships and one DFB-Pokal. Hannover 96 has a rivalry with VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Braunschweig. The club was founded on 12 April 1896 as Hannoverscher Fußball-Club 1896, upon the suggestion of Ferdinand-Wilhelm Fricke and their initial enthusiasm was for athletics and rugby, football did not become their primary interest until 1899. Most of the membership of Germania 1902 Hannover became part of 96 in 1902, in 1913, they merged with Ballverein 1898 Hannovera to become Hannoverscher Sportverein 1896. Hannoverscher FCs colours were black-white-green, but they played in blue, the newly united team kept black-white-green as the club colours, but they chose to take to the field in red, giving the team the nickname Die Roten. The teams third jersey is in the official colours. HSV continued to field strong sides and make national level appearances on into the 1920s, under the Third Reich, German football was re-organized into 16 top-flight leagues in 1933 and Hannover became part of the Gauliga Niedersachsen. They appeared in the final rounds in 1935 and sent representatives to the national side the next year. They won their first national championship in 1938 in what was one of the biggest upsets in German football history when they beat Schalke 04, the two sides played to a 3–3 draw before Hannover prevailed 4–3 in a tension filled re-match. In 1942, the moved to the newly formed Gauliga Braunschweig-Südhannover. Like most other German organizations, the club was dissolved after World War II by occupying Allied authorities. A combined local side was assembled in August 1945 and the month a mixed group of players from Hannover 96. HSV was later formally re-established as Hannoverscher SV on 11 November 1945 before re-adopting its traditional name on 27 April 1946, the club resumed league play in 1947 in the first division Oberliga Nord and was relegated, but quickly returned to the top-flight in 1949. Hannover 96s next appearance in a final would not come until 1954 when they soundly defeated 1. The beaten side included five of the players who would go on later that year to win Germanys first World Cup in a surprise victory known as the Miracle of Bern. In 1963, the Bundesliga, Germanys new professional football league, Hannover played in the Regionalliga Nord that season, but earned promotion to the senior circuit in the following year

31.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
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Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e. V. The modern-day club was formed in 1945, when gymnastics club Turnverein Hoffenheim, at the beginning of the 1990s, the club was an obscure local amateur side playing in the eighth division Baden-Württemberg A-Liga. They steadily improved and by 1996 were competing in the Verbandsliga Nordbaden, around 2000, alumnus Dietmar Hopp returned to the club of his youth as a financial backer. Hopp was the co-founder of software firm SAP and he put some of his money into the club and his contributions generated almost immediate results, in 2000 Hoffenheim finished first in the Verbandsliga and was promoted to the fourth-division Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. Another first-place finish moved the club up to the Regionalliga Süd for the 2001–02 season and they finished 13th in their first season in the Regionalliga, but improved significantly the next year, earning a fifth-place result. Hoffenheim earned fifth and seventh-place finishes in the two seasons, before improving to fourth in 2005–06 to earn their best result to date. The club made its first DFB-Pokal appearance in the 2003–04 competition and performed well, Bundesliga sides Eintracht Trier and Karlsruher SC and Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen before being put out themselves by another 2. Team owner Hopp clearly preferred Heidelberg, but could not overcome the resistance of local firm Wild, the investment paid off in the 2006–07 season with the clubs promotion to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing second in Regionalliga Süd, the 2007–08 season was Hoffenheims first season in professional football. The team managed to defend their place until the end of the season, as a result of their second-place finish they received automatic promotion to the Bundesliga, the highest tier in German football, after just playing in the 2. The 2008–09 season was Hoffenheims first season in the German top division, ibišević scored a total of 18 goals in 17 matches, being the Bundesligas leading goal scorer after the first half of the season. Hoffenheim was now deprived of their biggest offensive threat and additionally had to deal with a number of other injuries. In the 2009–10 season, Hoffenheim improved their squad by signing midfielders Maicosuel and Franco Zuculini, however, the club again suffered from a large number of injuries and suspensions in the second half of the season and only won four of the 17 matches. The club finished in a disappointing 11th place with 42 points, head coach Ralf Rangnick was criticised in public for the poor results of his team, yet his contract was extended for two more years in May. On 1 January 2011, Hoffenheim sold Brazilian midfielder Luiz Gustavo to league rivals Bayern Munich for a fee of €17 million. Immediately after the transfer had completed, Rangnick resigned and was replaced by Marco Pezzaiuoli. Rangnick had disapproved the transfer in the weeks before since Hoffenheim was in reach of the top five and had reached the quarter-finals of the 2010–11 DFB-Pokal, like in the previous season, the club finished the 2010–11 season 11th and below expectations. Hoffenheim signed former FC St. Pauli manager Holger Stanislawski in the summer of 2011 for the upcoming season, Stanislawski was sacked and replaced by Markus Babbel, who led the team to its third-straight 11th-place finish

32.
RB Leipzig
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RasenBallsport Leipzig e. V. commonly known as RB Leipzig, is a German association football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. Mens professional football is run by the spin-off organization RasenballSport Leipzig GmbH, RB Leipzig plays its home matches at the Red Bull Arena. In its inaugural season in 2009–10, RB Leipzig dominated the NOFV-Oberliga Süd and was promoted as champions to the Regionalliga Nord, RB Leipzig won the 2012–13 Regionalliga Nordost season without conceding a single defeat and was promoted to the 3. Liga, then finished the 2013–143, liga season as runner-up and was promoted to the 2. Bundesliga as the first team since the introduction of the 3, liga to win promotion after only one season. On 8 May 2016, Leipzig ensured promotion to the Bundesliga for the 2016–17 season with a 2–0 defeat of Karlsruher SC. Before investing in Leipzig, Red Bull GmbH, led by co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz, besides Leipzig, the company also considered a location in West Germany and explored cities such as Hamburg, Munich and Düsseldorf. The company made its first attempt to enter the German football scene in 2006, by advice from Franz Beckenbauer, a personal friend of Dietrich Mateschitz, the company decided to invest in Leipzig. The local football club FC Sachsen Leipzig, successor to the former East German champion BSG Chemie Leipzig, had for years been in financial difficulties, Red Bull GmbH drew up plans to invest up to 50 million Euros in the club. The company planned a takeover, with a change of team colours, involved in the arrangements was film entrepreneur Michael Kölmel, sponsor of FC Sachsen Leipzig and owner of the Zentralstadion. By 2006, FC Sachsen Leipzig played in the Oberliga, by then the tier in the German football league system. Playing in the tier, the club had to undergo the German Football Association licensing procedure. Red Bull GmbH and the club were close to a deal, but the plans were vetoed by the DFB, after months of fan protests, which deteriorated into violence, the company officially abandoned the plans. Red Bull GmbH then turned to West Germany, the company made contact with cult club FC St. Pauli, known for its left leaning supporters, and met representatives of the club to discuss a sponsor deal. The supporters of FC St. Pauli had only a time before participated in protests against the companys takeover of SV Austria Salzburg. Once it became clear to the Hamburg side that the company had plans far beyond conventional sponsoring, it ended the contact. The company then took contact with TSV1860 Munich, negotiations began behind closed doors, but the club was not interested in an investment and ended the contact. In 2007, Red Bull GmbH made plans to invest in Fortuna Düsseldorf, the plans were immediately met with wild protests from club supporters

33.
1. FSV Mainz 05
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Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V. usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 or simply Mainz, is a German association football club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. FSV Mainz 05 have played in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, for seven consecutive years, the clubs main local rivals are Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. In addition to the division,1. FSV Mainz 05 have handball and table tennis departments, a failed attempt to start a soccer team in the city in 1903 was followed up two years later by the successful creation of 1. After a number of years of play in the Süddeutschen Fußballverband, Mainzer Fussballverein Hassia 05, which dropped Hassia from its name in August 1912. Another merger after World War I, in 1919, with Sportverein 1908 Mainz, in the late 1920s and early 1930s the club earned decent results in the Bezirksliga Main-Hessen – Gruppe Hessen, including first-place finishes in 1932 and 1933. This merited the team a place in the Gauliga Südwest, one of sixteen new first division formed in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. Unfortunately, they managed a single season at that level before being relegated. Karl Scherm scored in 23 out of 44 games with Mainz during his last season, in 1938, they were forced into a merger with Reichsbahn SV Mainz and played as Reichsbahn SV Mainz 05 until the end of World War II. After the war the team joined the upper ranks of league play in Germanys Oberliga Südwest. They played in the top flight until the founding of the new professional league and they withdrew for a time – from the late 1970s into the late 1980s – to the Amateur Oberliga Südwest, as the result of a series of financial problems. Mainz earned honours as the German amateur champions in 1982, the club returned to professional play with promotion to the 2. Bundesliga for a single season in 1988–89 with Bodo Hertlein as president, before finally returning for an extended run in 1990–91. Initially, they were perennial relegation candidates, struggling hard each season to avoid being sent down, Mainz failed in three attempts to make it to the top flight in 1996–97, 2001–02, and 2002–03, with close fourth-place finishes just out of the promotion zone. The last failed attempt stung as they were denied promotion in the 93rd minute of the last game, a year earlier, they became the best non-promoted team of all time in the Second Bundesliga with 64 points. But their persistence paid dividends with an ascent into the Bundesliga in 2003–04 under the leadership of coach Jürgen Klopp, the team played three seasons in the top flight, but were relegated at the end of the 2006–07 season. Mainz then secured promotion back to the top flight just two later, after the 2008–09 season. Due to the Bruchweg stadiums limited capacity, the games in UEFA cup were played in Frankfurts Commerzbank-Arena

34.
VfB Stuttgart
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Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its team which is part of Germanys second division 2. VfB Stuttgart has won the championship five times, most recently in 2006–07. The football team plays its games at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Second team side VfB Stuttgart II currently plays in the Regionalliga Südwest, the clubs junior teams have won the national U19 championships a record ten times and the Under 17 Bundesliga six times. A membership-based club with over 50,0000 members, VfB is the largest sports club in Baden-Württemberg and it has departments for fistball, hockey, track and field, table-tennis and football referees, all of which compete only at the amateur level. The club also maintains a department, the VfB-Garde. Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart was formed through 2 April 1912 merger of predecessor sides Stuttgarter FV, Stuttgarter Fußballverein was founded at the Zum Becher hotel in Stuttgart on 9 September 1893. FV were initially a rugby club, playing games at Stöckach-Eisbahn before moving to Cannstatter Wasen in 1894, the rugby club established a football section in 1908. Rugby was soon replaced by football within the club, as found the game too complicated to follow. In 1909, FV joined the Süddeutschen Fußballverband, playing in the second tier B-Klasse and they eventually advanced to the senior Südkreis-Liga in 1912. Cannstatter Fußballklub was formed as a club in 1890 and also quickly established a football team. This club was dissolved after just a few years of play, the new team joined the Süddeutschen Fußballverband as a second division club and won promotion in 1904. Krone possessed their own ground, which exists today as the home of TSV Münster. The club also made appearances in the final rounds of the SFV in the late 1920s. In 1933, VfB moved to Neckar Stadium, the site of its current ground, German football was re-organized that same year under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight divisions called Gauligen. The club had a rivalry with Stuttgarter Kickers throughout this period. After a third-place result at the level in 1937, Stuttgart was not able to advance out of the preliminary rounds in subsequent appearances

35.
VfL Wolfsburg
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Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V. commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg or Wolfsburg, is a German sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. It is best known for its department, but other departments include badminton, handball. The mens professional football play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, the DFB-Pokal in 2015, professional football is run by the spin-off organization VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. Since 2002, Wolfsburgs stadium is the Volkswagen Arena, the city of Wolfsburg was founded in 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagen to house autoworkers building the car that would later become famous as the Volkswagen Beetle. The first football club affiliated with the autoworks was known as BSG Volkswagenwerk Stadt des KdF-Wagen and this team played in the first division Gauliga Osthannover in the 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons. On 12 September 1945, in the aftermath of World War II, on 15 December 1945, the club went through a crisis that almost ended its existence when all but one of its players left to join 1. The only player remaining, Josef Meyer, worked with Willi Hilbert to rebuild the side by signing new players, the new group adopted the moniker VfL Wolfsburg, VfL standing for Verein für Leibesübungen. This can be translated as club for gymnastics or club for exercises, within a year they captured the local Gifhorn title. The club made slow but steady progress in the following seasons, Wolfsburg, however, struggled in the top flight, narrowly missing relegation each season until finally being sent down in 1959. Wolfsburg remained a second division fixture over the dozen years with their best performance being a second-place finish in 1970. That finish earned the entry to the promotion round playoffs for the Bundesliga. From the mid-1970s through to the early 1990s, Die Wölfe played as a third side in the Amateur Oberliga Nord. Consecutive first-place finishes in 1991 and 1992, followed by success in the promotion playoffs, Wolfsburg continued to enjoy some success through the 1990s. Early predictions were that the club would immediately be sent back down, but instead, losing 6–1 away to MSV Duisburg in the final fixture, the Wolves finished in sixth place with 55 points and qualified for next seasons UEFA Cup. They also qualified for the Intertoto Cup in 2000,2001,2003,2004 and 2005 and this was followed by a couple of seasons of little success for the club, just narrowly avoiding relegation with two 15th-place finishes in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. This also enabled the Wolves to qualify for the UEFA Cup for only the time in their history

36.
TSV 1860 Munich
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Turn- und Sportverein München von 1860, commonly known as TSV1860 München or 1860 Munich, is a German sports club based in Munich. The clubs football team plays in the 2, Bundesliga, after relegation from the Bundesliga following the 2003–04 season. 1860 Munich was one of the members of the Bundesliga in 1963, becoming West German champions in 1966. Since 2005,1860 Munichs stadium has been the Allianz Arena,1860 Munich has a rivalry with Bayern Munich. The roots of the TSVs founding as a fitness and gymnastics association go back to a meeting held 15 July 1848 in a local pub. It was a time of revolutionary ferment due to the 1848 Revolutions, the club was formally reestablished on 17 May 1860 and after mergers with a number of other local associations in 1862 was known as Turnverein München. A football department was created on 6 March 1899 and played its first matches against other squads three years later, in 1911, the team adopted the familiar lion to their crest and in 1919 was renamed TSV München 1860. By the mid-1920s, they were playing football in the countrys upper leagues, like the Bezirksliga Bayern. Die Löwen challenged for the championship in 1931 but dropped a 2–3 decision to Hertha BSC, two years later, they made another semi-final appearance which they lost to Schalke 04 who were on their way to becoming the dominant side in German football through the 1930s and 1940s. In 1933, German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into 16 top-flight divisions known as Gauligen, TSV joined the Gauliga Bayern where they earned second-place finishes in 1934,1938 and 1939 before finally capturing a division championship in 1941. Their subsequent play-off appearance saw them second in their pool to finalist Rapid Wien. TSV returned to the national again in 1943, progressing to the quarter-finals. After World War II,1860 played in the top flight Oberliga Süd as a mid-table side and those performances were followed by poor showings in three consecutive seasons leading to relegation in 1970 to the Regionalliga Süd. It took 1860 seven years to make their way back to the first division, through a three-game play-off contest with Arminia Bielefeld, the clubs exile from the Bundesliga would last a dozen years. They were promoted to the top flight in 1994, but found themselves in danger being sent back down again. Stars like Abedi Pele, Thomas Häßler and Davor Šuker played for 1860 as their careers were winding down, becoming crowd favourites and making important contributions. Under the heavy-handed, dictatorial leadership of Wildmoser and Lorant, the combination of proven veterans and young talent helped the club avoid relegation,1860 earned a fourth-place Bundesliga finish in 2000 and were entered into the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, where they faced Leeds United. A 3–1 aggregate defeat, however, saw them play in the UEFA Cup that season, the club, however, was unable to build on this success and after some mediocre performances by the team, manager Lorant was fired

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Alemannia Aachen
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Alemannia Aachen is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has since slipped to third division play and in late 2012 entered into bankruptcy, liga schedule before resuming play in the tier IV Regionalliga West in 2013–14. Alemannia carries the nickname the Potato Beetles because of their striped yellow-black jerseys. In the second half of the 19th century, resident English merchants and industrialists brought football, in addition to the equestrian sports. The club was founded on 16 December 1900 by a group of eighteen high school students, knowing that another team had already taken the name 1. FC Aachen, the new club was christened FC Alemannia using a Latin word for Germany, the First World War devastated the club, the pre-war membership of 200 was reduced to just 37 by the conflict. In early 1919 Alemannia merged with Aachener Turnverein 1847 to become TSV Alemannia Aachen 1900 and their new partners interest was primarily in gymnastics and the union was short-lived, with the clubs splitting again in 1924. The city of Aachen is near the Belgian and Dutch borders and their first game was against the Belgian side R. Dolhain F. C. one of that countrys earliest clubs. There are intensive and friendly contacts with the Dutch professional club Roda JC Kerkrade, both clubs have the same club colors. The team played in the Rhineland-Westphalia FA and won its first championship there in 1907, the club grew steadily as interest in football increased. They qualified for the Rheingauliga in 1921, built their own stadium in 1928, the club enjoyed some success in the early 1930s by advancing to the final four of the Westdeutsche championship playoffs. In 1933, German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight Gauligen, Alemannia played several seasons in the Gauliga Mittelrhein in the late 1930s and early 1940s. They finished atop their division in 1938 and advanced to the final rounds. This was in spite of a protest by SV Beuel 06 which ultimately saw that club awarded the division championship, but too late to allow Beuel to play in the national playoff in Aachens stead. Alemannia is known as one of the few of this era to offer any challenge to the Nazi regimes purge of Jews from the sports organizations by demanding the release of a jailed Jewish member. They returned to first division play in the Oberliga West the next year and they remained a steady, but unspectacular second division side, generally finishing mid-table. Aachens first measure of success came with an advance to the German Cup final in 1953 where they lost a 1,2 decision to Rot-Weiss Essen, after the formation of the Bundesliga, Germanys new professional football league, in 1963, Alemannia found themselves in Regionalliga West. In 1965, they had another run in German Cup competition

38.
KFC Uerdingen 05
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KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The one time Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the 5th division. The club was founded on 17 November 1905 as Fußball-Club Uerdingen 05, on 1 August 1919, following World War I, FC was joined by Sportvereinigung des Realgymnasiums Urdingen. During World War II from 1941–45 the club played as part of the wartime side Kriegspielgemeinschaft Uerdingen alongside VfB1910 Uerdingen. That partnership continued after the war with the two clubs playing as Spielvereinigung Uerdingen 05, on 20 February 1948, VfB became independent again and in 1950 SpVgg resumed their original identity as FC Uerdingen 05. In 1953, the merged with Werkssportgruppe Bayer AG Uerdingen. Bayer withdrew its sponsorship of the team in 1995 at which time the club took on the name Krefelder Fußball-Club Uerdingen 05. Bayer continues to support the departments of the club as Sport-Club Bayer 05 Uerdingen. Uerdingen played in the local leagues throughout their early history. By the early 1960s they had advanced as far as the Amateurliga Niederrhein where they would play until 1971 when they stepped up into the Regionalliga West. The club then enjoyed a succession of strong finishes, a result in 1974–75 earned them promotion to the top flight Bundesliga. After three seasons in the second tier 2, Bundesliga Nord, another second-place finish returned Uerdingen to the Bundesliga in 1979, this time for a two-year stay. The club would go on to enjoy its most successful years through the 1980s and they returned to the Bundesliga in 1983 and earned a best-ever third-place result there in 1986. Uerdingen also captured the DFB-Pokal in 1985 with a 2,1 victory over Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in Berlins Olympiastadion, legendary in the clubs history from this time is their victory over Dynamo Dresden in the quarter-finals of the 1986 European Cup Winners Cup. Down 0–2 after the first leg away and behind 1–3 by half-time at home in the return leg, in 1987, Uerdingen also became the first club to win both the German under 19s and under 17s championship in the same season. The team spent the first half of the 1990s as an elevator crew bouncing up, after the 1995 season Bayer withdrew its sponsorship of the football team which has suffered chronic financial difficulties ever since. Uerdingen took up their year of play in the Bundesliga in the 1995–96 season as Krefelder Fußball-Club Uerdingen 05. By the turn of the millennium they had slipped through the second division, the clubs persistent financial problems led the DFB to deny them a license for play in the Regionalliga Nord in 2003 despite a mid-table finish and they were relegated to the Oberliga Nordrhein

1900s typical mining structure in the Ruhr, source of the Schalke nickname Die Knappen – from an old German word for "miners"– because the team drew so many of its players and supporters from the coalmine workers of Gelsenkirchen.